Thursday Morning Coffee: And It Rained For 40 Days And 40 Nights.

Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
We hope you made it safely to your place of employment on this very rainy late
September day. We're running a bit on the late side today. We were stuck behind a giant boat carrying two of every animal and that held up the traffic along Front Street here in Harrisburg just a tiny bit.

So while you take off your wellies and hang the umbrella on the rack to dry, why not check out this morning's headlines?

You Might Have Heard ...
... by now that the state House voted 104-94 last night to impose a new extraction tax on natural gas drillers working in the Marcellus shale.
The levy, which comes out to 39 cents per cubic thousand feet (we can't even picture what that looks like), is pretty much DOA in the Senate. Though Senate GOP leaders have said they're willing to work with House Democrats to come up with what they believe is an equitable tax.
Negotiations with the Senate could begin as soon as today,optimistic House Dems said last night.
We shall see ...

The State Senate Has Approved ...
...a bill extending the state's DOCTORS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!!! ... erm ... sorry ... MCare fund for seven more years, our friends at Capitolwire report.
Moving faster than most of us can get a referral for knee surgery, the Senate voted 38-9 to approve the bill. It was later voted out of the House Insurance Committee and is set for a possible floor vote in the House next week.
Good to know that the interests of donors ... sorry, we meant voters ... are being looked after her.

Because It Was A Wednesday ...
... and there wasn't enough already going on, Auditor General Jack Wagnerpopped up his head to announce yesterday that the next governor will ... wait for it .,. face a massive budget crisis.
Taxpayers do not want to see the cost of government increase," he said. Yet, he warned: "There really isn't any clear light at the end of the tunnel," Wagner said, taking the obvious, stepping on its neck, and beating it to within an inch of its life.
According to the Tribune-Review, Wagner's miffed because the Rendell administration recently asked him to trim his budget by nearly 2 percent, but it hasn't implemented any of the recommendations in the roughly 1.6 million audits he's released over the last few years.

More Bad News For The Jobless.
A new report by the state Department of Labor & Industry shows that, by year's end, 157,500 Pennsylvanians will have been unemployed so long they will longer be eligible for regular and emergency unemployment compensation, which end after 99 weeks.
That number could be as high as 304,000 by April, the Post-Gazette reports this morning.
"We are facing the longest period of high joblessness since the Great Depression," Labor Secretary Sandi Vito said.
The report, she said, "illustrates -- with clarity -- the challenges faced by citizens who, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet."
We have no jokes here. We're just simply appalled.

What Goes On.
We're assuming that this one will be rain-delayed, but the Capitol Fountain will run pink in commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition).
If you're hungry and in Pittsburgh this morning, you could stop by a breakfast reception put on by the House Democratic Campaign Committee at the Westin Hotel on Penn Avenue. Admission runs $500 to $5,000 (your eggs better be bionic for that kind of money).
Assuming they're all not underwater, Rep. Scott Petri, R-Bucks, holds an 11 a.m. golf outing at Spring Mill Country Club in Warminster. Admission runs $75 to $800. We particularly like the opportunities to sponsor a bartender or a drink cart.
Rep. Jesse White holds his first golf outing (weather permitting) at Southpointe Golf Club in Canonsburg, Washington County. Admission runs $100 to $500. No word on whether Rep. Tim Solbay, D-Washington, will be running security.Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, holds a 5 p.m. reception tonight at a private home in Lower Gwynedd. Admission is $100 for an individual, $150 for a couple.
The House Republican Campaign Committee holds a fund-raising dinner tonight at Glenmaura National Golf Course in lovely Moosic, Pa. Donors may give the maximum of $1,000 or simply submit to being turned upside-down and shaken until all the cash falls out of their pockets.
And Rep. Paul Drucker, D-Chester, holds a 6 p.m. reception at The Foundry in Phoenixville, Pa. Admission runs $100 to $1,000 depending upon your level of affection for Rep. Drucker.

You Say It's Your Birthday Dept.
Congratulations go out this morning to Morning Call Sports Editor Bill Kline, who, despite being another year older, is apparently no wiser about his Penn State rooting interests. Go Wildcats! And congrats, Bill.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning.
We're still very much in a Squeeze-y frame of mind today. But instead of posting two videos by the the band in a row, here's English pop chanteuse Lilly Allen doing her version of their classic "Up the Junction."

Thursday's Gratuitous Soccer Link.
An injury-depleted Manchester Unitedlogged a 1-0 victory over Spanish team Valencia in Champions League play last night, courtesy of a late goal by Mexican Javier Fernandez.
Hernandez had made just two appearances for the Red Devils before coming off the bench to score the winner in the 85th minute. His performance prompted United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to speculate that he could have a more permanent spot in the starting XI.

OK. That's it for now. We'll be back a bit later with more. Stay tuned.

Current Comments

A good way to picture a thousand cubic feet is to imagine one thousand blocks one foot long by one foot wide by one foot high. It's a lot of gas.
Now try picturing one million gallons of an unknown poisonous fracking liquid used to free up the gas. Imagine carrying one million gallon jugs of milk home from the store. That's a lot of unknown poison.
Now try picturing 372,000 dollars stacked up. That's a lot of cash donated to Gov. Candidate Corbett by the frackers.
Try picturing a group if idiots who will argue over taxing something that could ruin our land and water supply. This is an easy one, don't imagine anything, just look at our state government.

Posted By: Billmac | Sep 30, 2010 3:18:18 PM

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